An “ambitious and bright” man from the Chicago area was fatally shot while trying to break up a fight at an apartment complex on the Jackson State University campus in Mississippi on Sunday, according to the school and his father.
Twenty-one year old Jaylen Burns, an industrial technology student in his last year at Jackson State, was taken to a hospital after reports of shots fired at the University Pointe Apartment Complex on Sunday, Jackson State said in a statement.
Jaylen was responsible, ambitious and intelligent his whole life, making the dean’s list every year at Jackson State, his father Jason Burns told the Sun-Times. Jaylen was excited about graduating and starting his career and was planning to get a master’s degree, his father said.
“He just wanted to be successful; he was gonna be. He was a born leader,” Burns said.
He was shot while trying to break up a fight, Burns said. One of his fraternity brothers got into an argument with a woman who is also a student, and she called three men for support, one of whom had a gun.
The fight didn’t last more than ten seconds before one of the men the student had called pulled out a gun and shot Jaylen. Then, those who had been fighting ran.
Another student started driving him to the hospital but stopped when he found a police officer who called an ambulance, his father said.
While he was responsive in the ambulance, doctors were unable to save him.
Jaylen Burns
Jackson State University
La’Trice Wright, Burns’ mother, told WGN-TV Channel 9 that some of their family traveled to Jackson for homecoming weekend to celebrate everything her son had accomplished. It was just hours after she said her goodbyes and prepared to travel back to Illinois when she got the news.
Burns graduated from Hillcrest High School in Country Club Hills and grew up between Country Club Hills and Richton Park, according to his father. He had the opportunity to attend West Point but chose Jackson State, which he loved, for the HBCU experience.
“There’s nobody that ever came in contact with Jaylen that didn’t love him,” Jaylen’s father said. “He was willing to help anybody, ask any questions. He wanted to learn.”
The university issued a statement about the shooting. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Jaylen’s family, friends and all those who knew him. He was an ambitious and bright young man, who believed in being of service as a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and president of the C100 Chapter at JSU, an affiliate of the 100 Black Men of America. We grieve the tragic loss of his life due to this senseless act of violence.”
All classes were suspended Monday and additional security was added across campus.
Jason Burns said he hopes the person who shot Jaylen is caught or turns themself in.
“We never ended a conversation without telling each other that we loved each other,” he said. “I told him I loved him, he told me he loved me, that’s how we always ended our conversations.”